Seton Hall’s non-league slate is highlighted by a home clash with Wichita State, who return potent backcourt duo Fred Van Vleet and Ron Baker. A trip to Charleston that can result in a second round matchup with Virginia as well as hosting Georgia make the schedule comparable and probably slightly stronger than last season’s (230th in KenPom SOS) and much tougher than some in the recent past.

Three positive aspects of the schedule stand out to me:

1) Another game at Walsh Gym (and it’s a Sunday). Kevin Willard has publicly stated several times that playing at least once at Walsh should happen during the non-conference schedule, something which has come to fruition for the fourth straight campaign.

2) Games played away from home. This is somewhat of a downgrade from last season when the Hall played at the Paradise Jam (weaker than Charleston Classic) but also traveled to Georgia and Wichita State. That said, it’s not necessarily a bad thing that those two schools will travel to Newark while the Pirates take on Rutgers and George Washington away from home. Related: A matchup with Virginia — win or lose — will help the schedule strength a good deal.

3) Weekend home games. The opener is on a Friday against Dartmouth (meh.), but Wagner plays at Walsh on a Sunday while Georgia, Rutgers (not home, but local) and Wichita State are all on Saturdays; the Charleston Classic is also doable if you take a four-day weekend. Weeknight contests against the likes of Troy, South Florida during winter break and Dartmouth will probably struggle to attract fans to Prudential Center, but there are some juicy weekend matchups that locals can attend.

As always, I’ll have detailed previews of every Seton Hall non-conference opponent in the weeks that lead up to the season, culminating in an overall evaluation of the non-league slate.